Price is not everything when sourcing from China, but it still is the most important reason why importers source from there. Importers come to us for a number of reasons, but the three most common requests are: Quality assurance, finding suppliers, and securing optimal pricing. Every importer is concerned with...
We are the age of information. All of it is readily available at your fingertips. And for many, the problem is no longer finding suppliers, but rather, qualifying suppliers. We previously wrote about how to verify factories about a year ago in May 2018. See China sourcing: How to verify factories. Since...
Last week, we wrote about how China got its reputation for poor quality. This week’s blog discusses how a series of consumer product recalls actually led to the improved quality of Chinese-made goods. As our last blog in this series indicated, the notion that goods made in China are of...
1978-2018 As our 40thanniversary year comes to an end, I look back at our business, how it came about, why we did it, and what it means today. People often ask me how CPG got started, and more specifically, why I learned Chinese way back when China was not yet...
In February we started a blog series on the perception of Chinese goods being of poor quality (See Part 1 & Part 2). But is this a myth or reality? In this week’s segment, we’ll delve deeper into this topic and explore the source of this notion and its impact...
The impending tariffs and the trade war with China have been an ongoing and popular topic in the press, and an especially important issue in our business. One of the benefits of this kind of activity is that importers are focused on reducing COGS (Cost of goods sold). A recent...
China has gone through some major economic changes in the last 2 decades. Some of which probably affected how you buy and what you buy in China. In a recent article from Stansberry Pacific Research’s Asia Wealth Investment Daily, we found a great review of some of these changes. Worth...
Four weeks ago, I shared with youMichael De Clercq’s blog about his predictions on a positiveoutcome of the additional tariffswith China. As you know, President Trump originally set a deadline of March 1st. We are now at that deadline and,a few days ago, we all learned that hepostponed this deadline...
